The invention relates to a lounge chair with a frame and spring elements held by the frame, said spring elements forming the supporting surface, covering the frame, for mattresses or the like.
In EP 0 734 666 A1, the supporting surface for a cushion of such a lounge chair is known, the supporting surface holding a flat underlay in a frame, on which spring elements are set on the underlay with their bases in a regular grid. The spring elements have heads that form the supporting disks for a continuous cushion or the like. Such supporting surfaces that are also supposed to be used for beds can be provided with a lath grid (DE 29 707 790 U1) instead of the much more commonly used lounge chairs, with said supporting surfaces having spring laths as underlay for a mattress or the like, running at right angles to the longitudinal bars of a frame.
For folding chaise lounges or deckchairs, stretching a textile covering between the longitudinal and transverse bars of a foldable chaise lounge frame, such that the edges of the textile structure are placed around the longitudinal and transverse bars and fastened there, is also generally known (DE-GM 7531803). As a result, grooves must be provided on the hinges in order not to interfere with the hinge function. Such chaise lounges cannot be used as base frames for beds.
The same also applies to deckchairs that can be transformed into folding lounge chairs (CH-PS 390 901), where the textile covering is pulled over the folding frame with the help of pockets placed at the head and foot end, thereby achieving the fastening of the textile structure. Providing widenings with reinforcement inserts in the joints, which help to conceal the joints, is also known. However, such chaise lounge furniture cannot be used as replacement for a bedstead. The same also applies to a lounge chair intended as garden or camping furniture (AT-PS 312 844), which is constructed from a folding frame, which serves as a holding device for elastic straps that turn into a textile structure towards the center of the chaise lounge furniture. This design is meant for the chaise lounge to also serve as a kind of trampoline for children.
And finally, chairs or deckchairs are also known (DE 44 26 316 C1 ), in which the seat or back surface comprises a textile cover formed into a loop at its edges, and with these, is slid on rod-like spanners, which are in turn screwed down to the longitudinal bars of the chair frame. This embodiment makes it possible to remove the cover from the frame for purposes of cleaning.
The task of the present invention is to design a lounge chair of the type mentioned at the start, which can also serve as a bed frame, with the design to be made in a much simpler manner, such that spring bearing pressure can be provided over the entire lying surface without having to provide in a costly manner spring elements, distributed on the surface, on a fixed underlay or laths running at right angles to the longitudinal bars of the frame.
To solve this task, in a lounge chair of the type mentioned at the start, the invention suggests that the spring elements be made of a textile structure made of elastic threads, said textile structure being in the form of a knitting or woven fabric made of synthetic threads and being held under prestress at least at the longitudinal bars of the frame.
This embodiment creates a supporting surface for the cushion underlay of a bed or the like, which, depending on the prestress of the textile structure, can introduce spring restoring forces that is influenceable to the desired extent. The design of such a supporting frame remains extremely simple.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the prestress of the textile structure at right angles to the longitudinal bars can be different from that in other sections in at least one of several sections running lengthways of the longitudinal bars, making it possible, just like in lath grids or in individually adjusted spring elements, to exercise varying, zone-by-zone return forces to a chaise lounge cushion, and consequently, to a person lying on the cushion. For modern types of bed underlays, this is an important measure that promotes lying comfort, and consequently, healthy sleep. The outer edges of the textile structure can be held in a very simple manner at the longitudinal and transverse bars, in which the frame can also be provided with foldable longitudinal bars that facilitate an adjustment of the lying surface.
In a particularly advantageous further embodiment of the invention, the knitting or woven fabric of the textile structure can consist of polyester threads, preferably with about 25% elastomer polyester content.
The textile structure can also advantageously consist of two textile structures arranged at a distance one below the other, which, in the presence of a load, rest on top of each other, thereby allowing high return forces to be realized.
The invention also relates to a method for the manufacture of a lounge chair of the type mentioned in the beginning. In this method, a cut of the textile structure formed by the threads, to be put into the frame, is first made, its crosswise measurements being less than the distance of the longitudinal bars and its outer contour, at least at one spot of one of the side walls is not straight and parallel to the longitudinal bars. The cut formed in such a manner is, while expanded, fastened at least in crosswise direction to the longitudinal bars with its longitudinal outer contours. Since the outer contour of the cut does not run parallel to the longitudinal bars, but the outer edges are drawn up to the longitudinal bars before they are fastened there, a varying prestress of the woven fabric arises in different zones of the supporting surface designed in such a manner, as a result of which the return forces exercised by the supporting surface can be divided among different zones, at least lengthways of the longitudinal bars. In this manner, it is possible to adjust the degree of the elasticity, which reacts to a load, to the spring properties of known lath grids or the like, in which varying bearing pressure can likewise be exercised on a bed cushion, and consequently, on a person lying thereon.
Of course, it is also possible to correspondingly change the prestress of the elastic woven or knotted structure in zones that are lengthways of the transverse bars, so that in this manner, in a relatively simple way, and without having to distribute individual spring elements on a supporting surface, zones of greater and lesser return forces can be realized for the supporting surface.